Since humility is the emptiness of self which leaves the soul in utter dependence on God to work in it and through it by grace alone, this should instruct us on how to live to the glory of God. The humble soul will arrive at the point that there is nothing in it and of itself that can bring glory to God. As the humble soul knows that the command to love God cannot be kept other than to first receive the love of God from God, so the humble soul realizes that the command to glorify God cannot be kept unless one receives what is needed to do that from God.
Some older theologians (John Smith, Jonathan Edwards) spoke of God as having an internal glory (glory ad intra) and then that internal glory when expressed was referred to as the external glory (glory ad extra). Here, once again, we can see where the teaching on the character of God and true humility are parallel to each other. God exists in perfect love and glory within the Trinity. There is no one who has access to that glory unless God Himself decides to express it. So the command of I Corinthians 10:31, which is really an expression of the Great Commandment, is a command that the humble should hear and know that it can do nothing to keep it in its own strength. God commands us that whether we eat, drink, or whatever we do we are to do to the glory of His name. The proud soul sees that command and sets out to fill its head with knowledge and to do things which make God look good. But wait a minute, says the humble soul, how am I to reach into the Godhead and extract glory in order that He would be manifested? The proud soul simply smiles and says that if God commands it then it must have the power to do so. So it sets out to do all these external things while thinking that it is doing them to make God look good.
The humble soul cringes at the proud soul and knows that it is not really the glory of God being expressed by the proud soul but in reality it is the pride of the soul that is being seen. God will not give His glory to a proud person even if they say they are doing what they do to the glory of God. The humble soul knows that if it is going to keep the command to do all to the glory of God it must die to the desires and works of self so that it may be filled with the glory of God in order that the glory of God may be manifested through it. It has no illusions that it can do anything to make God look good or that any of the glory of God will shine in and through it apart from God filling that soul full of Himself. A soul only truly glorifies God when it is emptied of self and when the glory of God (Christ Himself is the shining forth of the glory of God, Heb 1:3) fills the soul and the Spirit fills that soul with the fruit of the Spirit (which is really the character of God). It is only then that the soul that is full of Christ and the
Spirit can glorify God because it is God who is manifesting His own glory through the soul.
With the previous thoughts in mind, it is easy to see how pride is the root of every sin and evil. It is only the humble soul that receives grace and so is used as a vessel and instrument to the glory of God. Romans 3:23 tells us that sin is to fall short of the glory of God. It is not as if they barely missed the glory or only did it on occasion, but the whole soul of the person has a bent away from the glory of God and don’t even aim at it. In all that the person does the person seeks self instead of God. People seek themselves in whatever they do and seek for glory and honor from others and in their own estimation. They do this in the things of religion as well. We have to be very careful or we will fall under the condemnation of the Pharisees. They prayed for themselves (though they used the name of God) and they fasted for themselves (Matthew 6:9ff). In other words, they were using what God intended as means of grace (grace always glorifies Him) to be ways to glorify themselves in seeking their own honor before human beings. They tried to use God to honor themselves. They tried to use what God intended as ways to glorify Himself and twisted them as means to bring honor to themselves. That is to be just like the devil.
The very root and heart of sin is in the soul’s desire to be like God: “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5). The soul wants to do its own thing and do it in its own wisdom and strength like God does rather than be emptied of self and wait on God to do what He wants to do in and through the soul. Self-righteousness is hated by God because it is the soul trying to be self-sufficient in its own righteousness which is an attempt to be like God. The humble soul knows that it has no righteousness in and of itself and knows that all righteousness needed to stand before God is granted it by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. It also knows that any righteousness it lives by is a righteousness that will come from the throne of God and be worked into it by grace. The devil wants to live by what it derives of self and not receive all from God based on self. That is what his children do as well, even if they are very religious. The humble bow in their own nothingness and receive all righteousness and all good by grace.
God Loves... Himself 
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